I, Claudius

Bringing to life the subterfuge and double-dealing of Roman nobility, Robert Graves's I, Claudius brings the ancient world to life with startling clarity and meticulous realism. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is a includes an introduction by Barry Unsworth.Despised for his weakness and regarded by his family as little more than a stammering fool, the nobleman Claudius quietly survives the intrigues, bloody purges and mounting cruelty of the imperial Roman dynasties. In I, Claudiushe watches from the sidelines to record the reigns of its emperors- from the wise Augustus and his villainous wife Livia to the sadistic Tiberius and the insane excesses of Caligula. Written in the form of Claudius' autobiography, this is the first part of Robert Graves's brilliant account of the madness and debauchery of ancient Rome, and stands as one of the most celebrated, gripping historical novels ever written.If you enjoyed I, Claudius, you might like Graves's sequel Claudius the God, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'An imaginative and hugely readable account of the early decades of the Roman Empire ... racy, inventive, often comic'Daily Telegraph'Still an acknowledged masterpiece and a model for historical fiction ... sympathetic and intensely involving- a great feat of imagination'Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

Masterpiece.

LibraryThing Review

Crítica de los usuarios - harrietbrown - LibraryThing

This follow-up novel to Robert Graves' classic, "I, Claudius" continues the life story of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Claudius. It begins immediately following where the previous novel left off, and ends with his death under mysterious circumstances, and his deification.Leer comentario completo

Acerca del autor (2006)

Robert Ranke Graves (1895-1985) was a British poet, novelist, and critic. He is best known for the historical novel I, Claudius and the critical study of myth and poetry The White Goddess. He wrote his autobiography, Goodbye to All That, in 1929, and it was soon established as a modern classic. He also translated Apuleius, Lucan and Suetonius for the Penguin Classics, and compiled the first modern dictionary of Greek Mythology, The Greek Myths. His translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (with Omar Ali-Shah) is also published in Penguin. Barry Unsworth is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds an honorary doctorate from Manchester University. He is the author of 15 novels, among them 'Sacred Hunger', which won the 1992 Booker Prize. 'Pascali's Island' (1980) and 'Morality Play' (1995) were shortlisted for the same prize. His most recent novel 'The Ruby in Her Navel' is due for publication in 2006. He lives in Italy.